domingo, 27 de diciembre de 2009
lunes, 21 de diciembre de 2009
jueves, 17 de diciembre de 2009
miércoles, 18 de noviembre de 2009
miércoles, 11 de noviembre de 2009
Alguna reunión familiar
No tengo la menor idea cuándo fue esto. Pero aparecen Chelsie, Sebastian, Beau, Emily y Camila en primer plano y en el fondo se ven Daisy y Willy.
domingo, 8 de noviembre de 2009
Camila 2003
En alguna otra foto dice que es la foto de Camila en 3er grado, lo cual es incorrecto. Esta foto tiene fecha de 2003, lo cual la pondría en tercer grado. Disculpen las molestias que este error pueda haber causado a su conteo retrogresivo . . .
viernes, 6 de noviembre de 2009
Visita a Animal Kingdom
Evidentemente Denise no fue con nosotros en esa ocasión. Se ha de haber quedado en casa. Camila y yo fuimos a Disney's Animal Kingdom. Llegamos temprano y desayunamos. No tomé ninguna foto del desayuno. Después Camila decidió que quería ese sombrero con el que sale en las fotos y yo compré una camisa de manga corta. Todavía la tengo por ahí aunque casi nunca me la pongo. Por la mañana estaba fresco pero después hizo un calor de padre y señor nuestro. Hicimos cola por más de una hora para subirnos al paseo entre los animales. Es el día que más calor he pasado en Disney.
martes, 3 de noviembre de 2009
Colección de fotos de mumu
Denise y yo habíamos ido a unas reuniones a Chicago y pasamos un par de días con mi hermano Alfonso en Berrien Springs. Camila se enamoró de este gato, para variar . . .
Nos despertó un domingo por la mañana un ruido raro procediente del sótano. Bajé a ver qué era y no vi nada fuera de lo normal. Al poco tiempo escuché el ruido de nuevo y me di cuenta que procedía de la chimenea. Esta paloma había entrado por la chimenea y estaba haciéndo un reguero con las cenisas.
Durante esa visita a casa de Alfonso.
Creo que esta foto fue en Toronto, después del almuerzo el sábado. Willy fue con Alice y los niños. Seb fue a comer con nosotros.
Camila en ese viaje a Berrien Springs.
domingo, 1 de noviembre de 2009
Camila rumbo a la escuela
No estoy seguro cuando sería. De por lo menos tres años atrás. Camila yendo a la escuela el primer día de clases. El van ese ["Vanny", le llamaba Camila] ya no está con nosotros. Pasó a mejor vida con mi mujer tras el volante. Ella terminó en la sala de urgencias y vanny en el corralón para convertirlo en chatarra.
Letrero de cumpleaños
Camila estaba limpiando el garage y se encontró con este letrero que utilizamos cuando nació, hace 15 años. ¡Mira que la chamaca ha crecido!
martes, 6 de octubre de 2009
Una colección de fotos viejas . . .
Esta fue en enero de 1990. El día de año nuevo viajamos de Washington a Nueva York y de Nueva York a Buenos Aires con una parada en Rio. En el vuelo de Washington a NY fuimos, no sé por qué, en un vuelo en el que solamente iban los miembros del equipo de Hokey de Los Angeles, The Kings, y nosotros. Aproveché la oportunidad para pedirle a Wayne Gretzky su autógrafo.En la parada en Rio vi que la comida estuvo afuera en el sol toda la hora que estuvimos esperando pero olvidé decirle nada a Denise. Para cuando llegamos a Buenos Aires, la pobre estaba con un vómito horrendo que se pasó dos días en cama.
Cuando se sintió mejor salimos a recorrer la ciudad y sus alrededores.
En algún momento, en medio de mis actividades, tomamos una mañana para dar un paseo en lancha por el Delta del Paraná. Recuerdo que fuimos a Tigre, donde tomamos la lancha. La pasamos muy bien con unas familias puertorriqueñas que se quejaban todo el tiempo que en Argentina no comen arroz como ellos y los cubanos.
Camila acababa de cumplir un año de edad. Volamos a Ciudad de México donde vivía mi hermana Adriana. Con la mala suerte que su maleta no llegó y tuvimos que comprarle ropa nueva.
Después de un viaje a República Dominicana, llegamos de regreso a Puerto Rico donde compartimos un cuarto con Mark Driskill. No recuerdo por qué decidimos hacer ese arreglo. Denise tiene familia en Puerto Rico y los visitamos. Mark tomó esta foto.
Esta foto ha de haber sido en enero del 92 o el 93. Yo estaba en Austria, me parece, y tenía unas reuniones de trabajo en Madrid. Denise consiguió un boleto a buen precio y nos encontramos en Madrid. Rafael Calonge nos llevó con él a Valencia porque tenía unas reuniones. Conocimos el colegio adventista en Sagunto y comimos paella en Valencia.
lunes, 21 de septiembre de 2009
Días de sobrecogimiento
Hará ya unos cuatro años que mi compadre Ramón produce una columna semanal para una institución de salud. La columna aparece bajo la firma del presidente de la misma. A mi me toca producir una versión en español de esa columna. Es una versión porque no se trata de una traducción literal. Ambos son tan amables conmigo que me dan libertad para aportar mi granito de arena. La meditación de esta semana me pareció apropiada para incluirla en este blog. Espero sea del gusto de quien la lea:
Los días sagrados de los miembros de la fe judía empezaron el viernes por la noche. “Rosh Hashanah”, el año nuevo judío, es el inicio de 10 días de arrepentimiento. Culminan con el más santo de los días del calendario judío: Yom Kippur, o “Día de Expiación”.
Estos son días de sobrecogimiento. Estos son días de reflexión y oración, lo mismo que opulentas tradiciones y festividades. Estos días proveen la oportunidad para repasar el año que ha terminado —y reconciliar los errores que se hayan hecho durante el mismo— y proveen esperanza para el año que empieza.
Al mismo tiempo que es una ocasión para la oración y la reflexión en la sinagoga, las tradiciones que se cuelan en la vida más allá de la sinagoga son fascinantes (y deliciosas). Entre las mismas se encuentran las reuniones familiares para señalar el cambio de un año a otro y las manzanas bañadas en miel y compartidas como un símbolo de la dulzura de la vida. Otra tradición requiere que los reunidos coman una fruta nueva —generalmente una granada— y repitan la oración llamada “el
Shehecheyanu”: “Bendito seas, Señor nuestro Dios, Regente del Universo, por mantenernos con vida y preservarnos y permitirnos vivir este día”.
El enfoque de la celebración tiene que ver con arrepentimiento y renovación. A través de una evaluación honesta de los eventos de los doce meses anteriores el pueblo se reúne ante Dios —buscando su misericordia y su bendición continua. No importa cual sea la actividad, el propósito es el mismo: apreciar y comprender mejor la gran misericordia y los propósitos de Dios.
Me inspira otra de las grandes oraciones que han moldeado esta antiquísima fe. Se llama el “Avienu Maleinu”, que en hebreo
significa: “Padre nuestro, Rey nuestro”. La oración es cantada a una voz por la congregación. La última estrofa dice: “Padre nuestro, Rey nuestro, agrácianos y respóndenos porque no tenemos acciones (para pedir a cambio de ellas); haz con nosotros caridad y bondad”.
Los días sagrados de los miembros de la fe judía empezaron el viernes por la noche. “Rosh Hashanah”, el año nuevo judío, es el inicio de 10 días de arrepentimiento. Culminan con el más santo de los días del calendario judío: Yom Kippur, o “Día de Expiación”.
Estos son días de sobrecogimiento. Estos son días de reflexión y oración, lo mismo que opulentas tradiciones y festividades. Estos días proveen la oportunidad para repasar el año que ha terminado —y reconciliar los errores que se hayan hecho durante el mismo— y proveen esperanza para el año que empieza.
Al mismo tiempo que es una ocasión para la oración y la reflexión en la sinagoga, las tradiciones que se cuelan en la vida más allá de la sinagoga son fascinantes (y deliciosas). Entre las mismas se encuentran las reuniones familiares para señalar el cambio de un año a otro y las manzanas bañadas en miel y compartidas como un símbolo de la dulzura de la vida. Otra tradición requiere que los reunidos coman una fruta nueva —generalmente una granada— y repitan la oración llamada “el
Shehecheyanu”: “Bendito seas, Señor nuestro Dios, Regente del Universo, por mantenernos con vida y preservarnos y permitirnos vivir este día”.
El enfoque de la celebración tiene que ver con arrepentimiento y renovación. A través de una evaluación honesta de los eventos de los doce meses anteriores el pueblo se reúne ante Dios —buscando su misericordia y su bendición continua. No importa cual sea la actividad, el propósito es el mismo: apreciar y comprender mejor la gran misericordia y los propósitos de Dios.
Me inspira otra de las grandes oraciones que han moldeado esta antiquísima fe. Se llama el “Avienu Maleinu”, que en hebreo
significa: “Padre nuestro, Rey nuestro”. La oración es cantada a una voz por la congregación. La última estrofa dice: “Padre nuestro, Rey nuestro, agrácianos y respóndenos porque no tenemos acciones (para pedir a cambio de ellas); haz con nosotros caridad y bondad”.
domingo, 20 de septiembre de 2009
lunes, 14 de septiembre de 2009
sábado, 8 de agosto de 2009
Queda prohibido
No tengo idea quien será el autor de esta composición. Me refiero al marco con la chica siendo abrazada a la izquierda, no al poema de Neruda. Buscando su autor encontré la imagen en varios blogs. Me gustó tanto el mensaje como la imagen, por eso la he incluido. De los poetas latinoamericanos Neruda es, sin lugar a dudas, uno de mis favoritos.
Vacaciones en Hawaii
Urgando en el baúl de los recuerdos encontré este video.
Denise y yo habíamos estado en Hawaii cuando vivíamos en California. Era en los días antes de las cámaras de video tal y como las conocemos ahora. Mi hermano Alfonso, recuerdo, tenía una que grababa en videos de VHS y había que llevar dos aparatos para hacer las grabaciones. Llevamos sólo una cámara de fotografía pero nunca he encontrado las fotos de ese viaje. Han de estar arrumbadas por ahí.
Camila iba a cumplir cuatro años cuando fuimos en esta ocasión a Hawaii. Nos acompañó mi suegra, que nunca se quería perder uno de nuestros viajes.
lunes, 3 de agosto de 2009
lunes, 20 de julio de 2009
Vista desde La Puerta del Diablo, en las afueras de San Salvador. Al fondo se ve San Vicente, uno de los muchos volcanes que hay en el área. En la parte de abajo se alcanza a ver un poco la población de Panchimalco, un pueblo colonial. Hace unos cinco años atrás visité toda esta zona y comí las pupusas más ricas de todo San Salvador, para mi. Panchimalco me pareció un pueblecito muy interesante. Lástima que no tomé fotos en esa ocasión.
domingo, 5 de julio de 2009
Moo
No sé pero este tipo de dibujos que a Camila le gusta hacer me recuerda a Picasso, Miró y algún otro artista. Le ha gustado tanto este dibujo que lo usa como fondo en la pantalla de su computadora.
viernes, 26 de junio de 2009
Santa Lucía de Los Palones
Marcela came with Roberto, the rental company driver, to pick us up around 8 o’clock on Monday, June 22, 2009. Matt Hammel, Jason Ortega, Camila, my daughter, and I climbed into the van and I asked Roberto if we could make a quick stop at the Office Depot a few weeks up the road from the hotel to check on some items. I ended up buying a notebook with plastic covers.
We headed towards Santa Lucía de Los Palones. We took the highway towards the airport and exited on the road towards Los Planes de Renderos. Roberto took advantage of his captive audience to practice his English. I asked him if he’d lived in the States. No, he said, I learned it at school. His English is actually not bad. He talks about everything he could possibly think of, from TV shows to places to visit in El Salvador. I think he would like to be some sort of tour guide. He’s constantly suggesting places for us to go see or visit, as well as restaurants where to eat.
Roberto began to drive up the hill; the volcano was totally covered by clouds. I made the mistake of mentioning that fact and Roberto took the opportunity to lecture, both in English as well as in Spanish, about the many volcanoes in El Salvador, their charm as well as their powerful eruptions.
Camila and I, at the Mirador (look out point) in Planes de Renderos. According to Roberto the Renderos family had planned to keep the area as an ecological preserve, ergo "Planes" de Renderos.
About half hour later we took the road towards Santa Lucía de los Palones. As it is often the case, Marcela stopped to pick up the teacher, Evelyn Cruz de Cortés, who would be our guide to each one of the homes of the “associates”, as they call the students. The teachers are actually called “facilitators”, so Evelyn is the facilitator of that literacy class. The literacy class is called a “learning circle”.
Evelyn has had that circle for three years. Evelyn, as well as a few others, was baptized by elder Ramírez in 2006 after a crusade in the community. For a short time a small group met every Saturday but one by one they all left and Evelyn ended up being the only Adventist. Sister Dimpna Martínez, one of the literacy leaders in El Salvador, comes every Saturday to visit her and together they go out and do Bible studies in the community.
Camy and I had to help each other to go down the muddy pathway to the bottom of this gully. A small creek runs through here and the young man was a few feet away from here doing his laundry.
Evelyn is 28 years old. She finished her studies to become a secretary. She met her husband, Oscar, at a church meeting. They have an 8 year old son, Oscar Jr. One day, while out giving Bible studies, Dimpna asked her if she’d be interested in becoming a teacher for the people in the community that don’t know how to read and write. “I wasn’t working at the time,” Evelyn told me, “so I decided to help.”
The first thing she had to do was to get some training, Evelyn attended a half day of training at the literacy offices and she was giving a few instructions about what to do next. “I came back home and I began to visit my neighbors,” she told me. “I have lived in this community for quite a while. I moved here after we got married. My husband grew up in the community.” Her family doesn’t live too far away, just up the hill in Planes de Renderos.
Santa Lucía de Los Palones is a hilly community. A few houses face the roads but most houses are built on the slopes, which means that there is a lot of climbing down and up to get to the homes of the people. This is the rainy season and the slopes are slippery at best. These “homes” consist of little more than some sticks covered with mud. The roofs are formed by piling all sort of things on top of the “walls”: wood, metal, tires, doors, sticks, tree branches, etc.
Walking up the hill,
after visiting the home
of one of the students.
Camy is on my right
and Jason on my left.
So Evelyn when from gullies to ravines, visiting those she felt could benefit from learning to read and write. She began with her own husband’s family. Quite a few of his relatives were illiterate. Some of them were completely illiterate, needing to stamp their thumb in lieu of a signature on any official paper, others had had some elementary education. Most of the latter were so old that they had forgotten what they had learned as children.
Her class of 28 students is divided in levels one through three. In partnership with the Ministry of Education of El Salvador, the literacy program makes it possible for people to finish their elementary education in three years. Every year, or level, is the equivalent of three years of elementary school. She teaches from 8 in the morning, after she takes her son to school, until 11:30am. She comes home to feed her son and goes back to her classes from 1:30 to 5:30 pm. Monday through Friday. “But not everybody is able to come to the class,” she tells me. “So I go to their homes. Sometimes I go on Saturday and on Sunday.” “So you teach every day of the week?” I asked her. She just smiled and nodded.
Evelyn began teaching people in her community to learn to read and write in 2007. “I had 12 students my first year. The second year I had 18, and this year I have 28,” she tells me proudly.
Camy and I, walking down
to visit the home of another
student. In this case, there is
a short section of steps. Before
and after this short section
there's only a muddy pathway.
Not too long ago she received a visit from the local police. They offered her an administrative job. “This was a great opportunity. I was right here, so I wouldn’t have to travel. I haven’t worked since my son was born, so this would help my family. It was a great opportunity,” she repeated. “I talked to my class. I had talked to another woman in the community that was willing to take over my classes. I talked to them in group and I talked to them in their homes. Their response was: If you don’t continue the classes we won’t continue either. Sister Dimpna visited and talked to them, she tried to convince them to continue their classes. They wouldn’t budge.”
“When was that?” I asked her.
“A few weeks ago.”
“So what happened?”
“I turned them down.” She said this with a serenity that indicated that she knew it was the only sensible thing to do.
We got off the vehicle and headed towards one of the student’s homes. It was a bit overcast and the weather felt good. Contrary to what I expected it wasn’t muggy and a cool breeze was blowing. The first two households had easy access but then we started visiting the homes of the people that live in the gullies and the ravines. It had rained all night and the ground was very wet and muddy. It made me wonder how they managed to go up and down those hills without breaking their legs or their necks. A young man was doing his laundry by a creek at the bottom of the gully and we headed to a house with two women and about six children.
I'm talking here with
Ana Elisa Ramírez, 27,
her parents were too poor
and too "set in their ways"
to send a daughter to school.
She had to work since
she was 13.
What stands up in all their cases is the same: poverty, parents unconcerned for their education, lots of children of their own, and dogs. Plenty of children and dogs. The students are mostly women and very few of them talk about a husband. In most cases the women appear to live alone, with their children and their dogs. It made me wonder if the dogs make up for the lack of men or husbands.
By the time we got back up the hill I was completely soaked with sweat. We continued visiting the students. A few times I had to help Camy to go down one of the pathways and a few times I had to get help so I wouldn’t end up belly down on the mud. Matt and Jason were taking pictures and I talked to the women. After 10 houses and, it seemed, as many gullies and ravines, it was almost noon.
The next to the last visit was heart wrenching. The son of the student, a 50 year old woman, has been killed the week before. They found his body three days after he was killed. They didn’t know the details of the killers but she couldn’t control herself from crying. Marcela and Evelyn told me that the entire class accompanied her for the funeral. “He was a good boy. He had just acquired a job. Don’t worry mother, he had told me, know we are going to be in better shape because I have a good job…” She sobbed. I had a word of prayer with her while she continued crying. It was one of the saddest moments of my life.
Here I'm praying with Ana Julia Velazco, 50, whose son was killed a week ago. Her parents were only able to send her to school for one year. She's already able to sign her name.
We walked back to the vehicle around one o’clock. It had been only four hours but it seemed like we had been in that community for days. We had seen poverty and need. But we could see that they felt that the literacy program is providing them with something so precious they can’t contain their glee. “Now I can sign my name,” Rosa Amelia Ramos Pérez, who is 42, told me with pride. “All this time I had to stamp my thumb because I couldn’t write. I don’t have to do it anymore.” Her eyes sparkled when she told me, “There are some people that make fun of you if you don’t know how to write. But that will not happen to me anymore.” And to prove it she wrote her name on my notebook.
A young mother, María Carrillo, 27, surrounded by her children while I talk to her. She wasn't able to go to school because she had to take care of her younger siblings.
Literacy restores the people’s confidence. It unlocks a future that, until not too long, seemed very dark. Thanks to the ministry of Evelyn and many other men and women like her, these women no longer feel ashamed, no longer are defenseless for not being able to read a sign or write their names. It seems to me like I have always known how to read and write, now I know what it really means: freedom.
We headed towards Santa Lucía de Los Palones. We took the highway towards the airport and exited on the road towards Los Planes de Renderos. Roberto took advantage of his captive audience to practice his English. I asked him if he’d lived in the States. No, he said, I learned it at school. His English is actually not bad. He talks about everything he could possibly think of, from TV shows to places to visit in El Salvador. I think he would like to be some sort of tour guide. He’s constantly suggesting places for us to go see or visit, as well as restaurants where to eat.
Roberto began to drive up the hill; the volcano was totally covered by clouds. I made the mistake of mentioning that fact and Roberto took the opportunity to lecture, both in English as well as in Spanish, about the many volcanoes in El Salvador, their charm as well as their powerful eruptions.
Camila and I, at the Mirador (look out point) in Planes de Renderos. According to Roberto the Renderos family had planned to keep the area as an ecological preserve, ergo "Planes" de Renderos.About half hour later we took the road towards Santa Lucía de los Palones. As it is often the case, Marcela stopped to pick up the teacher, Evelyn Cruz de Cortés, who would be our guide to each one of the homes of the “associates”, as they call the students. The teachers are actually called “facilitators”, so Evelyn is the facilitator of that literacy class. The literacy class is called a “learning circle”.
Evelyn has had that circle for three years. Evelyn, as well as a few others, was baptized by elder Ramírez in 2006 after a crusade in the community. For a short time a small group met every Saturday but one by one they all left and Evelyn ended up being the only Adventist. Sister Dimpna Martínez, one of the literacy leaders in El Salvador, comes every Saturday to visit her and together they go out and do Bible studies in the community.
Camy and I had to help each other to go down the muddy pathway to the bottom of this gully. A small creek runs through here and the young man was a few feet away from here doing his laundry.Evelyn is 28 years old. She finished her studies to become a secretary. She met her husband, Oscar, at a church meeting. They have an 8 year old son, Oscar Jr. One day, while out giving Bible studies, Dimpna asked her if she’d be interested in becoming a teacher for the people in the community that don’t know how to read and write. “I wasn’t working at the time,” Evelyn told me, “so I decided to help.”
The first thing she had to do was to get some training, Evelyn attended a half day of training at the literacy offices and she was giving a few instructions about what to do next. “I came back home and I began to visit my neighbors,” she told me. “I have lived in this community for quite a while. I moved here after we got married. My husband grew up in the community.” Her family doesn’t live too far away, just up the hill in Planes de Renderos.
Santa Lucía de Los Palones is a hilly community. A few houses face the roads but most houses are built on the slopes, which means that there is a lot of climbing down and up to get to the homes of the people. This is the rainy season and the slopes are slippery at best. These “homes” consist of little more than some sticks covered with mud. The roofs are formed by piling all sort of things on top of the “walls”: wood, metal, tires, doors, sticks, tree branches, etc.
Walking up the hill, after visiting the home
of one of the students.
Camy is on my right
and Jason on my left.
So Evelyn when from gullies to ravines, visiting those she felt could benefit from learning to read and write. She began with her own husband’s family. Quite a few of his relatives were illiterate. Some of them were completely illiterate, needing to stamp their thumb in lieu of a signature on any official paper, others had had some elementary education. Most of the latter were so old that they had forgotten what they had learned as children.
Her class of 28 students is divided in levels one through three. In partnership with the Ministry of Education of El Salvador, the literacy program makes it possible for people to finish their elementary education in three years. Every year, or level, is the equivalent of three years of elementary school. She teaches from 8 in the morning, after she takes her son to school, until 11:30am. She comes home to feed her son and goes back to her classes from 1:30 to 5:30 pm. Monday through Friday. “But not everybody is able to come to the class,” she tells me. “So I go to their homes. Sometimes I go on Saturday and on Sunday.” “So you teach every day of the week?” I asked her. She just smiled and nodded.
Evelyn began teaching people in her community to learn to read and write in 2007. “I had 12 students my first year. The second year I had 18, and this year I have 28,” she tells me proudly.
Camy and I, walking downto visit the home of another
student. In this case, there is
a short section of steps. Before
and after this short section
there's only a muddy pathway.
Not too long ago she received a visit from the local police. They offered her an administrative job. “This was a great opportunity. I was right here, so I wouldn’t have to travel. I haven’t worked since my son was born, so this would help my family. It was a great opportunity,” she repeated. “I talked to my class. I had talked to another woman in the community that was willing to take over my classes. I talked to them in group and I talked to them in their homes. Their response was: If you don’t continue the classes we won’t continue either. Sister Dimpna visited and talked to them, she tried to convince them to continue their classes. They wouldn’t budge.”
“When was that?” I asked her.
“A few weeks ago.”
“So what happened?”
“I turned them down.” She said this with a serenity that indicated that she knew it was the only sensible thing to do.
We got off the vehicle and headed towards one of the student’s homes. It was a bit overcast and the weather felt good. Contrary to what I expected it wasn’t muggy and a cool breeze was blowing. The first two households had easy access but then we started visiting the homes of the people that live in the gullies and the ravines. It had rained all night and the ground was very wet and muddy. It made me wonder how they managed to go up and down those hills without breaking their legs or their necks. A young man was doing his laundry by a creek at the bottom of the gully and we headed to a house with two women and about six children.
I'm talking here withAna Elisa Ramírez, 27,
her parents were too poor
and too "set in their ways"
to send a daughter to school.
She had to work since
she was 13.
What stands up in all their cases is the same: poverty, parents unconcerned for their education, lots of children of their own, and dogs. Plenty of children and dogs. The students are mostly women and very few of them talk about a husband. In most cases the women appear to live alone, with their children and their dogs. It made me wonder if the dogs make up for the lack of men or husbands.
By the time we got back up the hill I was completely soaked with sweat. We continued visiting the students. A few times I had to help Camy to go down one of the pathways and a few times I had to get help so I wouldn’t end up belly down on the mud. Matt and Jason were taking pictures and I talked to the women. After 10 houses and, it seemed, as many gullies and ravines, it was almost noon.
The next to the last visit was heart wrenching. The son of the student, a 50 year old woman, has been killed the week before. They found his body three days after he was killed. They didn’t know the details of the killers but she couldn’t control herself from crying. Marcela and Evelyn told me that the entire class accompanied her for the funeral. “He was a good boy. He had just acquired a job. Don’t worry mother, he had told me, know we are going to be in better shape because I have a good job…” She sobbed. I had a word of prayer with her while she continued crying. It was one of the saddest moments of my life.
Here I'm praying with Ana Julia Velazco, 50, whose son was killed a week ago. Her parents were only able to send her to school for one year. She's already able to sign her name.We walked back to the vehicle around one o’clock. It had been only four hours but it seemed like we had been in that community for days. We had seen poverty and need. But we could see that they felt that the literacy program is providing them with something so precious they can’t contain their glee. “Now I can sign my name,” Rosa Amelia Ramos Pérez, who is 42, told me with pride. “All this time I had to stamp my thumb because I couldn’t write. I don’t have to do it anymore.” Her eyes sparkled when she told me, “There are some people that make fun of you if you don’t know how to write. But that will not happen to me anymore.” And to prove it she wrote her name on my notebook.
A young mother, María Carrillo, 27, surrounded by her children while I talk to her. She wasn't able to go to school because she had to take care of her younger siblings.Literacy restores the people’s confidence. It unlocks a future that, until not too long, seemed very dark. Thanks to the ministry of Evelyn and many other men and women like her, these women no longer feel ashamed, no longer are defenseless for not being able to read a sign or write their names. It seems to me like I have always known how to read and write, now I know what it really means: freedom.
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